


kiss the rain

by nycthemeron



Series: pastimes of a lonely human and friendly dryad [1]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alfheim, Elemental Magic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fae & Fairies, Fae Ryan Bergara, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Full Moon, Human Shane Madej, I think?, M/M, Magic, Magic Revealed, Nature, Nature Magic, Not a demon, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Shane Madej Being an Idiot, Shane Madej Needs A Hug, Stars, Supernatural Ryan Bergara, basically shane is sad and ryan hates that hes sad, depression walk, dryad ryan bergara, faerie lore, honestly idk what this is but i just wanted to write it so bad, lapslock, mentions of it tho, ryan is light fae dont worry, yeah hes human for a change what about it, yeah mfs im out here on some original shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 17:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18997237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nycthemeron/pseuds/nycthemeron
Summary: "see?" ryan says, smiling smugly, "im not a- a whatever you called me earlier. im a dryad."shane looks to ryan, to the ground, and to ryan again, then starts nodding to himself. "im going insane. my boss finally struck a nerve and ive gone psycho.""no! you walnut!" ryan yells. he stomps his foot and a small tree root slaps the back of shanes head."ow!"





	kiss the rain

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i havent written anything for this community yet so i thought id start with this. there was a fic i read earlier and it inspired me to write this. 
> 
> i wrote this while listening to this song:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgo_1OtePfQ

 

he can see it not too far away, that somehow healthy tree atop this massive, lone hill. the leaves shimmer like the stars in the sky, and the branches sway with the zephyr tangled around them. tame brush clings to his jeans as he maneuvers around the smaller plants.

  
he heaves with every upwards step he takes, and with the the burn of his muscles, he asks why he continues to come out to this tree when it is so much work to get there. then he calls himself silly, because this tree is a comfort away from every worldly anchor that keeps him from coming back to the surface. because this lets him cut the rope tied to his ankle so he can breathe for a little while, that is, before the shortened rope ties itself around him again.

  
the full moon light shines on his back, and as he looks to the earth to watch his footing, he can see the blurry outline of his shadow. it stands in front of him, almost like its telling him to keep going upwards.

  
shane looks up to gauge his progress, and sure enough he is nearly there. the shadow pulls his feet forwards, and in no time he has arrived at the top. he takes a deep breath before making his way to the tree, tall and glorious as ever, careful not to trip on the roots in slip up and under the dirt like a sea serpent.

  
shane takes a seat under the greenery, leaning back against the trunk, his knees pulled towards his chest with his arms resting atop them. the bark is thick and it digs into his skin, but he does not mind it much. he could break it off if he so wished, but that would leave it unprotected, and that is just mean.

  
shane sighs, and closes his eyes. the wind visits again, taking the hand of the branches above if for only a second, as if it were to lead it in a dance. the leaves rubbing against each other reminds him of the crashing of a wave. he can hear the crickets and frogs and toads talking to each other as if they were arguing. he hears animals running around in spaces invisible to him, but he feels no fear.

shane opens his eyes, and he feels at peace. he looks at the stars--the ones he can see as he looks to the horizon, because the treetop is so thick you might think a blanket had been lain over your head.

  
he feels grateful, and a little bit undeserving. the stars always break through the pollution of city lights in places like this, because they know that people who wander this far need the guidance from something constant. the stars and planets and the moons all provide a guiding light, an enchanting entertainment.

  
"i wonder if they like to dance..." shane says to himself. because he knows no one is here to judge him and wonder if hes crazy. no, he likes to talk to the world sometimes and likes to pretend the world can hear him.

  
"no one else listens to me like you do," shane says, patting one of the roots next to him.

  
"you know, its in places like these that i remember that someone has probably sat exactly where im sitting. maybe it was two weeks ago, maybe it was two years ago. maybe it was someone whos been dead for hundreds of years. but i like to remember that someone was here before me.

  
"then that reminds me that every single person on here lives a life uncomparable to the existence of, well, existence. and then i feel like, well what am i doing? why do i do what i do if its not going to matter in the end? and usually thats when things get bad, you know? i start to feel like the helpless lil human i am.

  
"but then i think 'well whats the point in thinking like that?' i mean, i know i changed someones life just being alive. their life wouldnt be the same without me in it, it could even be completely different. who knows? i dont, and i never will. and thats why i dont think about this stuff."

  
shane sighs deeply, the kind you hear after someones gotten something off their chest. "i dont know why i even talk to you, universe. thanks for listening, though."

  
"anytime."

  
the words are spoken almost directly into his ear, and they send a chill up his spine. shane turns to face whoever those words belong to, pushing himself backwards with his feet and lifting himself over tree roots. for that second, he looks a like a crab.

  
he looks up at the person, breathing short and heavy, eyes wide. his fear holds his tongue still and he can only stare.

  
"quick reflexes, i see! im sure if i had actually wanted to kill you, you wouldnt have been helpless."

  
shane stares at the face of the man before him, as tanned as the wood of the tree he stands next to. his hair his dark brown and wavy, but shane can see streaks of white and gold and copper.

  
"wha- who are you!" shane asks, voice raised.

  
the man tilts his head a bit, making an unsure sound. "ive had many names, but i think the one im most fond of is 'ryan', so call me that. what is your name?"

  
"why," shane scrambles to his feet, "would i tell you that?"

  
"smaaarrt, its probably best you dont tell me." shanes face twists with confusion. "you know what? why dont you sit with me."

  
ryan proceeds to sit wear shane had sat, his back to the tree trunk, and pats the seat next to him.

  
when shane doesnt sit, he tries, "oh come on, if i wanted to hurt you, dont you think i wouldve had a real good chance when you werent paying attention earlier? ya know, when i said 'anytime'?"

  
shane does not speak, still does not move. his focus moves his right arm, which looks like a wood grain pattern had been tattooed onto his arm, similar to stretch marks, but smooth like the rest of his skin. peeking from under the thin, green shirt is definitely part of a tattoo, a pattern of tree branches and acorns tangled together.

  
"whats that?" shane asks, head motioning to his arm.

  
"sit down and ill tell ya," ryan persists, smiling impishly.

  
shane squints at him, but sits down next to him nonetheless. when ryan does nothing but continue to stare at him, he motions to his tattoo again with his hand.

  
"oh, right." he rolls up the sleeve of his shirt so shane can see. "this, i got when i was born. it represents my mother tree."

  
"mother tree?" shane inquires, and ryan nods, "whats that?"

  
"this baby right here," ryan answers, and slaps part of the tree in between them twice.

  
shane looks from ryan to the tree, ryan to the tree, ryan to the tree. "im not following."

  
"long story short," ryan replies, and sighs, "im a dryad. or a nymph. or a fairy. or whatever you people call us. and this tree that you happened upon is mine. the patter on my arm is the same as the wood. the tattoo is just a lil somethin to make it more obvious."

  
"so im talking to a crack addict," shane tells himself, and looks into the horizon again, "a crack addict named ryan who thinks hes a fairy. and now im probably going to die. gotcha."

  
"i have no idea what that is but i am not it." shane looks at him unconvinced, as if that is what he expected to hear. "what? you want me to prove it? fine. look up."

  
shane looks at him, reluctant to do anything, but ryan motions for him to do it. he looks up, and watches as tiny buds the size of pinheads appear on one of the smaller branches above him, and the buds turn to green little arrowheads. he watches them, enraptured, as they grow bowls for hats and become acorns. theres a second where they rock back and forth before falling, and shane barely has enough time to move out of the way so they avoid his eyes. in awe, he sees them on the ground, decaying before him until he can no longer see them.

  
"see?" ryan says, smiling smugly, "im not a- a whatever you called me earlier. im a dryad."

  
shane looks to ryan, to the ground, and to ryan again, then starts nodding to himself. "im going insane. my boss finally struck a nerve and ive gone psycho."

  
"no! you walnut!" ryan yells. he stomps his foot and a small tree root slaps the back of shanes head.

  
"ow!"

  
"maybe if you just chilled out for a second i wouldnt have had to do that!"

  
"why would that make me chill out! if anything im less likely to believe you!"

  
"you know what?" ryan says, finality and frustration laced in his tone.

  
he stocks towards shane, who does not move, and takes his arm to keep him from changing his mind. ryan lifts his hands, and shane starts to speak, but he presses his finger to the center of shanes forehead and suddenly he can breathe correctly. he has never been able to breathe so easily in his life, and the air smells or petrichor and roses. he can see little balls of light whizzing through the air, he can see the energy moving slowly through the plants, including ryans tree.

  
ryan releases him, and shane feels like his lungs are full of his own breath instead of oxygen. the balls of light that had been whizzing past each other in the sky have left and darkness takes their places. when shane looks to ryans tree, he can no longer see the golden energy moving from the roots to the tips of the leaves.

  
shane looks to ryan, still catching his breath, and ryan simply says, "hey, you wouldnt believe me. also, im not doing that again, so dont ask."

  
ryan sits on the ground once more, back to his oak. shane nods, mostly to himself, and stumbles his way to ryans side.

  
"so," shane starts, "youre a dryad? shouldnt you be taller then? ya know since youre like part tree?"

  
ryan scoffs, matching shanes knowing smile with an amused face of his own, "did you just call me short? really? wow. and here i thought i found a nice human to help."

  
shane laughs openly, and ryan relishes in it as he joins him. the purity in his laughter fuels him, especially since most of shanes visits are usually draining and unpleasant to be around. ryan can hear the child in him, he hears it in his quips and his laughter, and he wants to help that child come forward just a bit.

  
their laughter fades, and pleasant silence is left afterwards.

  
"so," shane turns to him, "are there more of you out here? more dryads? god thats still so weird to say."

  
ryan giggles at him, and answers, "no. there are no other big trees out here, so no other dryads."

  
shane seems saddened by this news, "why not?"

  
"well," ryan sighs, and his face falls gradually, "there actually used to be a lot of us. this place used to be a valley of rolling hills. but then humans started to leave, and without their positivity, we cant live on earth."

  
"how..." shane pauses, "how long have you been here for?"

  
"a very long time." he lays himself down so his head and shoulders rest against the trunk of the tree, and his legs cross each other. "im from a place called Alfheim, the world of light fae, but I live here because I like humans. time moves differently there. i could be there for six hours and six months would have gone by."

  
"wow..."

  
"yeah."

  
"do you miss them?"

  
"huh?"

  
"do you miss them?"

  
"the other fae?" ryan asks, "sure. but i miss the other dryads more. i miss my brother most, though. he was from the same tree as me, but he left. he was, uh, dying, out here, so he left for Alfheim."

  
"im sorry," shane says sincerely.

  
ryan turns his focus to him, where it had been on the stars before, and he finds shane looking at him. he sees the sincerity and sympathy sketched on his face, and even though the feeling ryan gets is less satisfying, he still does not take it for granted. it feels nice.

  
"what was your name again?"

  
"arent i not supposed to tell you that?"

  
"well, do you trust me?"

  
"... my name is shane."

  
"nice to meet you, shane."

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! i appreciate comments of any kind so please feel free to leave them!! that includes criticism. 
> 
> also, i dont think i would be opposed to making some kind of spin-off or series to this if it were requested enough. i like writing my boys, even if i havent quite gotten the hang of them yet. 
> 
> <3


End file.
